Scottish League 1 Rangers shareholder Sandy Easdale said that the financial situation at Ibrox is "fragile," according to Alasdair Lamont of the BBC. The club's recent accounts "were signed off for the next 12 months on the basis of an uplift in season ticket sales," but Easdale said indications were that sales were "slow." Ahead of the publication of the board's business review, he urged "loyal" fans to show their support to the club. Additionally, a senior source within Ibrox has described the League 1 champions as "being on a life-support machine." Easdale: "At the end of the day, the club is at a crossroads at the moment and a fragile position. It can either go forward with a strategic view, with a long-term view, steady as she goes, or be pulled apart in other directions'' (BBC, 4/24). The Scotland DAILY RECORD reported there is a "bitter power struggle at Ibrox between the board and former shareholder Dave King." King "has urged supporters to place their season ticket money in a trust fund which will be handed over once certain conditions have been met by the club." Asked if the numbers would sustain the club in the short term, he said, "We've got all the numbers; me and chief executive Graham Wallace are confident and the board's quite confident that we'll meet those numbers." Asked if the supporter ticket boycott could place the club at risk of another administration, Easdale said, "That's a difficult question. And it's a question that I don't want to answer or be in a position that this board would be forced into that situation. I would say that in 140 years, the club's gone into administration once; I don't think it would survive a second one." However, Rangers Manager Ally McCoist -- who was due to meet with Wallace later on Thursday to find out the full scope of the club's financial state -- "insists he is not panicking yet." McCoist: "I wouldn't say I'm worried" (DAILY RECORD, 4/24). The SCOTSMAN wrote the Union of Fans, responding to Easdale's comments, "released a statement raising a number of concerns." It said, “The financial position of the club is not down to lack of support or loyalty from any of our fans, it is down to two years of mismanagement and the squandering of huge sums of money, which Mr. Easdale has been a part of for the past seven months" (SCOTSMAN, 4/24).
